Andy & Liz
Passionately dedicated to Flat-coated Retrievers for over 25 years.
ABOUT BLAZINGSTAR FLAT-COATED RETRIEVERS
Situated along the Oldman River, near Fort Macleod in southern Alberta, our dogs get to run and romp over a unique blend of rolling native grasslands, sandstone cliffs and cottonwood forest.
Flat-coated retrievers have been a big part of our lives for over 26 years. We spend much of our free time working and playing with our dogs. We believe that flat-coated retrievers need something important to do. They are an intelligent breed with a strong desire to work. We hunt with our dogs, primarily waterfowl, but some upland bird hunting as well. In addition to hunting, we compete with our dogs in obedience and show them in conformation.
We feel strongly that dog health is directly related to diet and the environment. We try to raise our dogs and puppies as naturally as possible, feeding a mostly raw diet consisting of meat, vegetables, bones and some grains. We have spent much time researching canine diets and nutrition in order to give our dogs the best diet possible. We do not use harsh chemicals in our home, kennels or on our dogs.
While we only have the occasional litter, when we do, we aim to produce flat-coats that are attractive, physically sound, have excellent working abilities and represent the breed at its best. We are very fortunate to have been trusted with some exceptional foundation dogs from long-time flat-coat breeders at Prairielight, O'Flanagan, Bramatha and Flatterhaft kennels.
We feel that improving the health and longevity of flat-coated retrievers is an important goal and to that effect, we have allowed our dogs and those we have bred to participate in a variety of health-related research projects over the years. In addition, we enter all of our dog's health information into Flatcoatdata.com (including those we have bred) and are involved in the genetic diversity project at University of California at Davis and we support Betterbred.com and have all of our current dogs in their genetic diversity database.
We are members of the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of Canada and the Flat-Coated Retriever Society of America. Liz served four years as President of the FCRSC. We are both passionate photographers and enjoy capturing our dogs and the natural landscape around us with our cameras.
When we are not doing dog stuff.... Andy is a retired biology professor at the University of Lethbridge, but continues his research on behavioural ecology. Liz works on a variety of bird research and scientific illustration projects and also does her own art work.
